China: Nations Must Honor Kyoto Commitments

By

Jing Yang

Dec 15, 2009 3:01 pm ET

Chinese authorities are upset about efforts by some developed nations to kill the Kyoto Protocol at the United Nations-sponsored Copenhagen climate change conference, China’s special envoy on climate change said Tuesday.

Associated Press

Yu Qingtai, China’s ambassador on climate change

“The Kyoto Protocol is more important than any single negotiation. It’s the basis for international cooperation” in combating climate change, said Yu Qingtai, who is also the deputy head of the Chinese delegation at Copenhagen, in speaking with Dow Jones Newswires.

However, Yu said at a press conference that he hasn’t given up hope that a significant new pact for combating climate change could be reached at the end of the two-week conference in the Danish capital, as long as some countries deliver more political goodwill.

The deadlock at the conference has been mostly caused by demands from rich nations that go beyond the agreed-upon principles formed under the Kyoto Protocol and the Bali road map, Yu said. These demands include wanting developing countries to verify their emission reductions and to take on binding targets, he added. …